there was no monthly collector's club show in july here in the twin cities and after attending the august show a couple of weeks ago, i think i know why. the building that the show is held in is an old armory in a first tier suburb and has no air conditioning. it was stuffy in august and would have been unbearable in july.
at any rate, i found some cards as usual. i am sure that from the title you expect to see some blue jay or cardinal cards, but actually i was thinking about this 1977 hostess mark fidrych card that i found in a 5/$1 box
it is poorly cut but that's ok.
there were a bunch of hostess cards in the box, and i grabbed a couple others including this horrendously cut 1976 hank aaron
worth twenty cents for sure. still, i wonder if someone was using their toes to work the scissors with this one.
the other part of the title is more obvious - i added a few mookie betts cards to my collection at the show. here's a 2015 topps "robbed" insert
and a 2019 factory set exclusive all-star game variation
i was also happy to find a cache of 2022 topps uk edition cards, including the "career year" inserts that were only found in that release. here's betts' card from that set
and here is the lone dodger in the set, clayton kershaw
2014 was not a triple crown year for kershaw, but it was the year that he won both the cy young and mvp award.
this same seller also had dollar boxes that were really 71 cent boxes and then even less when all is said and done as this guy gives pretty good discounts.
i found a few parallels from these boxes such as a green foil miguel rojas 2024 topps card
and a 2001 fleer ultra tom goodwin gold medallion edition card
one of my favorite card finds was a 2017 topps rediscover topps buyback card of joel skinner from 1992 topps
i appreciate this card because back in 2001, i pulled a 1992 joel skinner card from a pack of topps. they were inserting buyback cards in packs back then, but not marking them in any way. so, while i beat the odds, what i really had was just another 1992 common. so, i appreciate the stamping of buybacks these days.
other cards of interest that came from this seller include a 2016 topps heritage clay buchholz card
it's not a variation as far as i can tell, but buccholz is wearing the 4th of july hat and uni from 2015
here's the original 1967 design but it's a diamond cut vada pinson card
i also randomly picked up a 1997 upper deck collector's choice ken griffey jr checklist
that explains the difference between a subset and an insert
i was an annual collector of collector's choice but i don't remember these checklists.
there's another regular seller with dime boxes that i typically spend some time with, and i found some keepers there this month. this 1993 pacific nolan ryan texas express 27 seasons card
goes into my retired number collection as a sort of header card. i suppose it could also be a lurker card as rod carew is featured along with ryan.
a couple of new to me double play cards include a 2023 topps heritage brandon drury card
and a 2013 topps asdrubal cabrera purple parallel
here's another 2013 topps purple parallel that i picked up - it's carlos pena
i have cooled my pursuit of tatooine cards, but the color combo on this card appealed to me.
i also found some vladimir guerrero cards for my collection including this 1998 fleer ultra kid gloves insert
and then there is one for my name/number on the back collection from 2023 topps black & white
my first thought when i saw this card was when did cody bellinger play for the rockies?
another seller had some cheap autos and relics, and i bought the 1996 leaf signature series steve sparks card
just because of the knuckleball grip he is sporting
there were some in person autos in the box, and while i tend to shy away from these, i did pick up two bob welch signed cards
and one davey lopes card
for the collection. those were just under two bucks apiece.
the last dealer i stopped at had vintage bargain bins filled with oddballs. i chose a 1963 topps tommy davis peel off
and a 1975 hostess twinkies don sutton panel
with plenty of black bar showing on the back
that was the most expensive card of the day for me with a tag of $5
the last card i bought was another "bird" - a 1975 fleer cloth patch old hoss radbourn card
featuring his famously extended middle digit. here is the back:
as i was asking the seller about reducing the price of the sutton panel, i heard the person to my left say my name. it was none other than brian from highly subjective completely arbitrary! i've met up with him at this show many times, but didn't think to check with him before heading out to this one.
as always, brian had some cards for me, which brings me to even more mookie betts cards!
2024 topps heritage white border parallel
2023 topps stadium club mookie betts chief fantasy professional insert
and a 2024 topps royal blue parallel
that also features freddie freeman
a non-mookie card from brian that was great to see was this 2016 topps bunt joc pederson moon shots insert
it's numbered to 50 which belies the low end product that bunt was thought to be back then.
2025 topps included ohtani's achievement in the "2024 greatest hits" insert set
noting that he reached the milestone as part of a historic single game offensive performance. his 6 for 6, 3 home run, 10 rbi line was the subject of a 2024 topps now card
here's the back that gives more detail
note that i already had his topps now 50/50 card - two cards for one game is par for the course for topps now.
i would imagine that ohtani 50/50 parallels go for a hefty sum - these were both pretty cheap. i don't expect any 2026 cards to focus on ohtani's 50/20 season in 2025, but we can be sure that there will be plenty of his cards throughout every release.
